Curiosity Killed The Cat
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Riley-Ann Michelle Dallion can't resist returning to the antique store where her parents had worked many years ago, before they were married. Little does Riley-Ann know that a malevolent presence lurks inside the store, and it wants much worse than simply to see her dead. It wants her very soul...
1. Great Uncle Lewis

Riley-Ann Michelle Dallion knew that she shouldn't have come to the store. Her parents' warnings had been clear enough. _Stay as far away from there as possible. Something evil dwells there.  
_

And yet, Riley-Ann simply had to see the store where her parents had met, where they had worked and lived for several years, where they had fallen in love. Just a quick glance around, and she'd return to the safety outside.

Miraculously, the door to the abandoned building was unlocked. Its hinges made a loud screeching noise as Riley-Ann cautiously pushed it open and stepped inside.

The interior was thickly coated with dust. Riley-Ann felt a sneeze coming on. Slowly she walked to the counter and touched the side of the ancient cash register.

Before her very eyes, the scene instantly changed. The cash register was new, the counter clean, and behind it sat an elderly man, Riley-Ann's Great Uncle Lewis.

Riley-Ann noticed that she was no longer alone in the store. Beside her stood a man and woman with a little blonde girl of about six. The little girl was holding an antique doll. They all seemed totally oblivious to Riley-Ann's presence.

"How much do you want for her? However much it is, it's not enough," the man said to Uncle Lewis.

"She's not for sale! Nothing's for sale!" Uncle Lewis snapped crossly. "Now leave so that I can finish doing inventory!"

Shortly after the family had left the store, the wind began to blow fiercely, but it seemed to be blowing _inside_ the shop rather than outside it. Riley-Ann wanted desperately to leave, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot. Objects inside the store began to bump against each other and fall to the floor. Uncle Lewis looked up in alarm.

To Riley-Ann's utter disbelief, the floor began to open up right where Uncle Lewis sat. Riley-Ann tried to scream, but not a sound came out of her mouth. Unable to tear her eyes away, she watched in horror as Uncle Lewis fell into the gaping hole that had just opened up in the ground, heard his scream echo all the way down until it was too faint for her to hear any longer.


	2. The Teacup

Riley-Ann's feet seemed to have wings as she dashed out of the antique store and ran home as fast as she could.

"Riley-Ann!" exclaimed her mother, Micki. "You look as if you've just seen a ghost!"

Riley-Ann knew that she couldn't tell her mother about her visit to the antique store, as she'd been warned not to go there, so she just brushed past Micki and headed to her bedroom, almost running right into her father, Ryan, as she passed him in the hallway.

"What's up with her?" Ryan asked Micki, who shrugged helplessly.

Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Riley-Ann forced herself to take deep breaths to calm down. She wasn't sure at all if the horror she'd just witnessed had really happened or if she'd just imagined it. Finally she decided to watch a movie to try to take her mind off of it. She watched movies until Micki called her for dinner.

* * *

It was about a month later, and life had pretty much returned to normal for Riley-Ann. She'd tried as hard as she could to push the events of the day she'd visited the antique store from her mind, and she'd almost succeeded. Almost, but not quite.

Riley-Ann was walking down the street one day when suddenly the scene changed and she found herself in a park in the middle of the night. _How'd it get so dark so fast, and how did I end up here?_ she wondered.

Her attention was immediately drawn to a nearby park bench on which sat a young derelict wrapped in a blanket. A kindly old lady carrying a steaming mug approached him. "How'd you like a nice, hot cup of tea?" she asked him.

"Sure," said the young man, taking the steaming mug from her. As soon as he had it in his hands, the ivy pattern on its side came to life and grew until it reached his neck, then strangled him to death. The old lady, now transformed into a young woman, smiled with satisfaction as she retrieved the teacup.

Riley-Ann suddenly found that the scene had changed once more, and she was once again on the street she had been walking down before. She was deeply puzzled by what had just happened. She hadn't even been _near_ the antique store this time. Had she been hallucinating? If so, what had been the cause?

* * *

"You seem awfully quiet, dear," Micki said to her daughter over the dinner table that evening. "Has something happened to upset you?"

"I'm OK, Mom." Riley-Ann didn't look up from her plate. "I just had a really bad dream last night. That's all."

Micki's eyes met Ryan's across the table, but neither of them said anything.


	3. The Cabinet Of Knives

Riley-Ann sat in the theater watching a movie with her boyfriend, Pierce. Suddenly the scene changed, and instead of a movie, she was watching a live magic show.

"And now, the Great Montarro will attempt to survive the cabinet of knives!" the barker announced, opening the cabinet to demonstrate that there were indeed a collection of knives protruding from the inside of its door. Riley-Ann gasped.

"Sh," said Pierce, frowning at her.

She stared at him with eyes wide with fright.

"Sheesh, what's wrong with _you?"_ he whispered.

Riley-Ann simply continued to stare, totally oblivious to everything except what was occurring on the stage. The Great Montarro stepped grandiosely into the cabinet, and his assistant shut the door. After a moment, the assistant opened the door, and the Great Montarro fell to the floor, blood gushing from his mouth and from the multiple stab wounds in his body.

Involuntarily, Riley-Ann began to scream. Pierce grabbed her arm and rushed her out of the theater and into the lobby. All the concession stand workers and ushers stopped what they were doing and stared in shock.

"He's d-dead!" Riley-Ann sobbed.

 _"Who's_ dead?" asked Pierce.

"The Great Montarro!"

"Who the hell is _he?"_

"The magician, Pierce! The man we just saw on stage!"

"Riley-Ann, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."

"Take me home, _now,_ Pierce. _Please!"_

* * *

Micki sat in the recliner drinking a wine cooler and watching a horror movie on TV. For a long time after it had all ended, and the last cursed antique was safely locked away in the vault beneath the store, she hadn't been able to watch them at all. Over the several years that mission had taken, she'd thought she'd seen enough supernatural horror to permanently numb her mind to it, but she'd been wrong. When she'd tried to watch a horror movie several years later, the memories had all come flooding back - all the times she'd almost died, all the times Ryan had almost died, the one time she actually _had..._

The doorbell startled her, bringing her back to the present. She opened the door to see Pierce standing beside a very upset Riley-Ann.

"What happened, darling?" Micki asked.

"I don't know," Pierce said. "Everything was fine until Riley-Ann started screaming and blubbering about someone called the Great Montarro, or something like that."

 _The Great Montarro._ Yes, Micki remembered the name.

"It was _horrible,_ Mom!" Riley-Ann exclaimed. "I saw a man stabbed to death! He did a performance where he was supposed to escape from a cabinet of knives, but the knives stabbed him and he died!"

Just then, Ryan stumbled from the bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What's going on?" he mumbled.

"Oh, Ryan, it's started again!" Micki cried, collapsing into tears.

 _"What's_ started again?" Ryan blinked in confusion, glancing from his wife to his daughter. "What happened, Riley-Ann?"

"I saw a man die, Dad. He was stabbed to death in a cabinet of knives."

"The Great Montarro," Micki added. She and Ryan exchanged a long, significant glance.

"Riley-Ann, did you go into that antique shop we warned you about?" Ryan asked his daughter.


	4. The Compact

Riley-Ann hung her head and didn't answer. Ryan placed a caring hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Sweetheart, we warned you to stay away from that shop because we were afraid for your safety, not only your physical safety, but your spiritual safety as well. We were so afraid that if you ever went there, something like this might happen."

"But it's just an ordinary shop, Dad," Riley-Ann said. "How could it have the power to make all this weird stuff happen?"

"Sweetheart, we never told you the whole truth about everything that went on when your father and I worked there," Micki told her daughter. "In addition to selling antiques, we also had to retrieve antiques that had already been sold. You see, Riley-Ann...my Uncle Lewis, who owned the store before your father and I inherited it, was an evil, evil man. The antiques he sold were cursed. They destroyed the lives of the people who bought them. When your father and I inherited the store, we had to find every single cursed antique that my uncle had sold and lock them safely away in the vault underneath the store. The vault can't be destroyed, but as long as the antiques are locked away in it, they can't hurt anyone else."

"After your father and I found the last cursed antique, we never went back to that store again. We were always afraid of what might happen if we did. A malevolent presence still lingers there, Riley-Ann, and now it's got you too..."

"Am I going to die?" Riley-Ann was suddenly very afraid.

"So far, you've only seen the effects of the curses, right?" Ryan asked his daughter. "You haven't actually been affected by one yourself, have you?"

"Well...no..."

"Perhaps you'll be all right, then. Perhaps it's only memories of past effects of the curses, and not the curses themselves, that have been reactivated. If that's the case, you should be safe."

"But what if it's more than that, Ryan?" Micki asked her husband. "What if the curses themselves have been reactivated as well?

Ryan shook his head helplessly.

* * *

A couple of months later, Riley-Ann was walking with Pierce in the same park she had been in when she had witnessed the strangulation death of the transient when she saw a very homely teenage girl sitting on a park bench and looking into a compact mirror. The girl saw Riley-Ann and Pierce approaching and, with an evil grin, aimed the compact's mirror directly at Pierce.

"No!" Riley-Ann screamed, quickly clapping both hands over Pierce's eyes. "Don't look, Pierce!" Instinctively, she knew that if Pierce looked into the compact's mirror, he would die.

The girl stood and advanced on Pierce, still aiming the mirror straight at his face.

"Leave him alone!" Riley-Ann screamed.

"Make me," the girl challenged her.

Riley-Ann let go of Pierce long enough to shove the girl so hard that she fell and dropped the compact. Riley-Ann quickly snatched it up and ran for her life as hard as she could away from the girl.

"Hey, give that back!" the girl shouted angrily, but she already sounded far away.

Riley-Ann kept running until she literally couldn't run anymore and, exhausted, fell against a telephone pole, still clutching the compact tightly in her hand. She looked around and, to her immense relief, realized that both the park and the girl were far behind her. A few minutes later, Pierce caught up to her with a puzzled look on his face.

"What did you do that for?" he asked. "That girl was just sitting there minding her own business and you took her compact away. Why did you do that, Riley-Ann?"

"She was trying to kill you, Pierce!" Riley-Ann practically shouted.

"What? She didn't do anything at all to me!" Pierce protested.

'You didn't see her aim that compact mirror at your face?"

"No, and what if she did? It's just a compact!"

"No, Pierce, it's _not_ just a compact. It's cursed. It can kill people!"

Pierce shook his head. "You're crazy, Riley-Ann," he said. "You don't need a boyfriend. You need a shrink!"


	5. A Close Call

Dejected, Riley-Ann watched as Pierce walked away, leaving her standing there alone. Had he just broken up with her? Maybe he was right. Maybe she _did_ need a shrink.

"You look like you just lost your best friend," Micki commented as her daughter trudged through the door some time later.

"Pierce broke up with me," Riley-Ann muttered.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Micki stopped what she was doing, went to her daughter, and embraced her. "It hurts, I know, but perhaps it was for the best. You'll meet someone else soon."

Riley-Ann slunk silently to her bedroom without telling her mother anything else about her interaction with Pierce.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Riley-Ann had a dream that was so vivid she could have sworn that it was real. In it, she saw a much younger version of her father in a stable with a young woman. The young woman was dressed in clothing from at least a century earlier, and she was grooming a horse. She and Riley-Ann's father were singing.

 _Hush-a-bye, don't you cry  
Go to sleep, little baby  
When you wake, you shall have  
All the pretty little horses  
Blacks and bays, dapples and grays..._

The song was hauntingly beautiful, and when Riley-Ann awoke, she wondered whether it had actually happened. Had her father traveled back in time when he'd been younger? Who was the young woman he'd been with in the stable?

* * *

Riley-Ann missed Pierce very much. They hadn't spoken at all since that day in the park, and although Riley-Ann had thought of calling him dozens of times, she was so afraid that he'd call her crazy and hang up on her that she simply couldn't bring herself to.

One day she decided to take a walk to the duck pond where she and Pierce had often fed the ducks when they'd still been together. No sooner had she arrived than she saw a baby carriage roll down the hill and into the pond.

"My baby!" shrieked a terrified woman. "Somebody, please, save my baby!"

Quick as a flash, Riley-Ann took her shoes off and dashed into the water after the carriage.

Suddenly she felt pressure on the top of her head and realized that, to her horror, a man wearing a black mask was holding her head under the water so that she couldn't breathe. She struggled with all her might, but the man was too strong for her, and she soon felt herself becoming dizzy.

All of a sudden, Pierce was there, pulling the man off Riley-Ann. With all her might she pushed away from the man's grasp and finally broke free. She swam to the bank and lay there, gasping for breath. Pierce joined her a moment later.

"I'm so sorry, Riley-Ann," he said, gently stroking her dripping hair. "I'm so sorry for not believing you before."


	6. A Glimpse Into The Past Part One

"Please, Pierce, just take me home," Riley-Ann gasped when she could speak again. Pierce put his arm around her and helped her back to her parents' house.

"My God, Riley-Ann! What on earth happened?" Micki exclaimed when she saw her dripping-wet daughter.

"Someone tried to kill her, Mrs. Dallion," Pierce said soberly.

"I...I ran into the pond after a baby carriage..." Riley-Ann tried to explain.

"Oh...my...God..." Micki could barely get the words out. "The Kents...the cradle...it's all happening again, just like it did all those years ago..."

Riley-Ann went to her room to change out of her wet clothes, and Pierce went back to his own home.

When Ryan got home that evening, Micki thought she'd never been so happy to see her husband. "The Kents almost drowned Riley-Ann today!" she told him.

"The Kents?" Ryan looked puzzled for a moment, then remembered and understood. "The couple who bought the cursed cradle..."

"They came back, Ryan. And they tried to kill our daughter!"

Ryan held his wife as she sobbed. "The cursed cradle," he mused. "Next came the urn...then the mirror...then the voodoo mask...then the radio...then..."

"No!" Micki screamed.

* * *

 **1988**

"Welcome back. Wouldn't want to go on doing this without you," said Ryan. He smiled at Micki, and she suddenly saw him in a whole new light. Before this moment, she'd always considered her co-worker to be kind of an overgrown little boy, cute and loveable but definitely not the type of man who inspired passion in her. Yet tonight he'd literally brought her back from the dead.

Ryan and Micki and their older colleague, Jack, had been attempting to retrieve a cursed coin from its current owner, a Satanist who planned to use it to resurrect several long-dead sorcerers. The evil magician had used the coin to kill Micki, then planned to use the coin to resurrect a witch who'd been hung in the sixteenth century. Ryan had constructed a clay mask to resemble the dead witch's face, then placed it over Micki's face, thus tricking the magician into bringing Micki back to life instead.

Micki knew she'd never forget the feeling of utter terror she'd felt as she'd watched the tossed coin rebound and fly up toward her forehead. She'd felt the coin strike her forehead, then...nothing at all, until she'd suddenly found herself arising in the middle of the unholy ceremony.

Jack and Ryan had explained to her what had happened, then left her to rest after her ordeal. Ryan held her hand for perhaps a bit longer than necessary, and she saw the familiar longing in his eyes. She'd seen it there before, many times, but ignored it, thinking that she didn't feel the same way he did and not wanting to get his hopes up. Now, all of a sudden, she found that she _did_ feel that way about Ryan, after all. Yet how to tell him? She couldn't just go to him and blurt it out, could she?

Pondering possibilities in her mind, Micki soon drifted off into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Ryan was especially kind to her for the next few days, and Micki wondered whether her new feelings for him showed. If they did, he didn't give any indication.

Then came the night Ryan and Micki attended the symphony together. The night that would change both their lives forever.


	7. A Glimpse Into The Past Part Two

"Her name's Leslie Raines," Ryan told Micki. They'd just returned from the symphony, and Ryan had stayed behind to talk to the second violinist.

"You like her, don't you?" asked Micki.

"Well, yeah," Ryan said. "She sure is pretty."

"Prettier than me?" Micki asked softly.

"Well, no, I didn't say _that."_ Ryan looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"Ryan...there's something I've been wanting to tell you ever since I...came back."

"What?"

"Ryan, I...you know that I've always cared for you and respected you as a friend, but ever since that night, I've begun to see you in a whole new light, and now I realize that...I love you, Ryan."

"Micki." Ryan said her name softly, then cradled her face in his hands. "Is it really true?"

Micki nodded.

"Oh, Micki." Overcome with emotion, Ryan took her hand and led her into his bedroom. Slowly he undressed her, relishing the process of discovery. When she finally stood before him completely naked, he paused for just a moment to drink in her beauty before quickly removing his own clothes.

His hands were everywhere, and hers were as well, gently exploring, lovingly caressing. Slowly they brought one another to the brink of release, then joined their bodies and began to move together. She cried out first, and he did a short time later. They went to sleep in one another's arms.

Things were never the same at the antique store again after that night.

 **1990**

"The final cursed antique is now safely locked away in the vault," Ryan said happily. "The world is forever safe from them now."

"Thank goodness!" Micki exclaimed. She and Ryan both felt as if the weight of the world had just been lifted from their shoulders.

"Now we can put this chapter of our lives behind us and move forward." Ryan smiled and put his arm around Micki. "And I can finally ask you the question I've been wanting to ask you for ages. Will you marry me?"

A couple of weeks later, they stood before their minister friend in the park. It was a lovely day, with blue skies in which floated white cotton-candy clouds. Ryan was very handsome in his navy blue suit, every inch of his dark hair perfectly in place, and Micki was lovely in a white lacy gown and veil.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister said. "You may kiss the bride."

Ryan lifted Micki's veil and kissed her chastely on the lips, and then they left for their honeymoon in Niagara Falls.

"Do you suppose it really is all over?" Micki asked Ryan as they drove toward the motel.

"Of course it is," he assured her. "The last cursed antique is safely locked away forever, and the store is now closed for business. It's all in the past now, babe."

"But what about Uncle Lewis?"

"He's gone forever, hon. He can never hurt us or anyone else again."

Micki desperately hoped that her new husband was right.


	8. The Coin

"Do you suppose they've somehow come back and brought the coin with them?" Ryan asked himself.

"Ryan, we've got to get out of here! Now!" Micki cried.

"But where shall we go?" asked Ryan.

"Church! We'll be safe there!"

"But no church would be open at this time in the evening!"

"St. Andrew's Catholic church is right down the street," Micki reminded her husband. "I'll call and find out when they're open."

"But we can't wait that long!"

"Perhaps there's a number you can call for emergencies on their voice mail."

"I sure hope there is!"

Micki called the number listed in the telephone book and, sure enough, the voice mail provided a personal number for Father Rousseau. Micki hung up and called the priest right away.

"Father Rousseau?" she asked when he answered the telephone.

"Yes?"

"I need to speak with you in person as soon as possible. It's too complicated to try to explain over the phone."

"I'll be in my office between ten and six tomorrow. You're welcome to come by anytime."

"Oh, thank you!"

The following morning, Ryan, Micki, and Riley-Ann all met Father Rousseau in his office at ten o'clock. The priest was a kind-looking man with white hair and a receding hairline.

"What troubles you good people?" he asked.

Breathlessly, Micki told him the whole story. He listened calmly.

"Let's go to the antique store," he said when they were finished. "I'm going to put an end to this, once and for all."

Together they journeyed to the antique store. When they got there, the priest encircled the building, sprinkling holy water and chanting in Latin. When he'd finished, Ryan, Micki, and Riley-Ann all returned home feeling immensely relieved.

* * *

For a few days, everything seemed back to normal. Then one day Riley-Ann was walking home from the store when she spied an odd-looking coin lying on the sidewalk. Curious, she bent and picked it up, and when she stood up again, she saw Great Uncle Lewis standing there, looking at her and smiling.

"Oh!" she gasped, turning to run.

"Don't be afraid, Riley-Ann." Uncle Lewis touched her arm. "I want to help you."

"How can you help me?" Riley-Ann asked suspiciously.

"That coin you just picked up is a very special one," Uncle Lewis explained. "Riley-Ann, have you ever lost someone close to you?"

"There was my friend McKenzie. She was my best friend in third grade. She was killed in a car crash that year."

"Do you still miss her?"

"Of course I do!"

"If I told you that that coin could bring McKenzie back to you, would you believe me?"


	9. McKenzie

Riley-Ann led Uncle Lewis to the cemetery where McKenzie was buried. She visited McKenzie's grave every year on McKenzie's birthday to leave flowers there. Now she led Uncle Lewis to the grave.

"We will return here at midnight tonight," Uncle Lewis told her. "Don't forget to bring the coin or it will have all been for nothing."

"But the cemetery will be locked after dark," Riley-Ann protested.

"That doesn't matter," Uncle Lewis replied. "I'll get us in."

At eleven thirty that night, Riley-Ann got out of bed very quietly, dressed in the dark, and, desperately hoping not to awaken her parents, sneaked out of the house.

Uncle Lewis was standing beside the entrance to the cemetery holding two shovels and two flashlights. He handed one shovel and one flashlight to Riley-Ann and opened the cemetery gate, and they both walked in.

With the aid of the flashlights, they quickly found McKenzie's grave and began to dig. Riley-Ann's muscles became sore, and she developed blisters on her fingers, but, determined to help Uncle Lewis bring McKenzie back, she worked on.

At last Uncle Lewis' shovel hit stone. "The lid of the burial vault," he told Riley-Ann. "You're going to have to help me lift it."

Riley-Ann pulled and tugged on the side of the heavy stone slab until her fingernails were torn and she was sure her shoulders were going to be dislocated, but at last she and Uncle Louis together had it moved completely to the side, exposing the lid of the coffin, which Uncle Lewis quickly opened.

The smell overwhelmed Riley-Ann, causing her to gag and quickly cover her face with her hands. Dashing to the shelter of a nearby bush, she fell to her knees, her stomach retching with dry heaves.

A few minutes later she felt Uncle Lewis' hand on her shoulder. "Duty awaits us," he reminded her.

Feeling considerably more unsure about whether or not it would really be a good idea to try to bring McKenzie back, Riley-Ann accompanied Uncle Lewis back to the grave. There lay McKenzie's eight-year-old body, still wearing the dress she'd been buried in. The exposed parts of her body were partially covered with a blackish powder.

Riley-Ann gasped. "What's _that?"_

"It's only mold," Uncle Lewis said dismissively. "Wipes right off. See?" He wiped a bit of the mold away with his handkerchief.

Gently he lifted McKenzie out of the coffin and laid her on the side of the grave, then quickly replaced the vault lid, dirt, and marker.

When he was finished, he handed Riley-Ann the shovels and flashlights, picked the corpse up, and left the cemetery. Riley-Ann stayed as far away from him as she could without losing sight of him. The thought of accidentally touching the corpse repulsed her. Strangely, Uncle Lewis seemed completely unaffected.

As she'd suspected he would, Uncle Lewis led Riley-Ann to the antique store, then upstairs to the sleeping quarters above it. Riley-Ann realized that this was where her parents had lived when they'd worked at the store. Uncle Lewis entered one of the bedrooms and laid McKenzie's body on the bed.

Fascinated, Riley-Ann watched as her great uncle quickly fetched the coin and placed it on the dead girl's forehead. It made a bizarre spinning motion, seeming to almost disappear beneath the skin. Then McKenzie opened her eyes.


	10. Questions And Answers

"Where am I?" the little girl asked, gazing about with wide, frightened eyes. "What happened?"

Riley-Ann wasn't sure whether to feel elated or terrified. "You were hurt really bad, McKenzie," she told her friend. "But you're going to be all right now."

McKenzie's eyes narrowed. "Who are _you?"_

"I'm your best friend, Riley-Ann Dallion! Don't you remember me?"

"You're not Riley-Ann! Riley-Ann's a little girl, like me! You're a grown-up woman!"

"You were...asleep for a long time, McKenzie. A lot of stuff happened while you were asleep. Me growing up was one of them."

McKenzie examined her body critically. "But I'm still little! Why didn't I grow up too?"

Riley-Ann didn't know what to say. "I'm...I'm not really sure, McKenzie, but it's going to be all right. Come on. I'll take you home."

Riley-Ann took McKenzie by the hand and led her back to her house. Fortunately, her parents were still asleep when she and McKenzie slipped inside.

She led McKenzie to the bathroom, where she switched on the light and began to fill the tub. Then she stripped McKenzie naked and left her clothing in a pile in the corner. It would obviously have to be burned.

Gently Riley-Ann helped McKenzie into the tub and scrubbed her all over, hard. Then she drained the tub, toweled McKenzie off, and went to search for something for her to wear.

Obviously all her own clothing was much too large. She finally found a t-shirt that McKenzie could wear as a dress.

She'd just gotten that taken care of when she noticed her bleary-eyed parents standing in the doorway and realized that all the banging around must have awakened them.

"What on earth is going on?" asked Micki.

"What's that godawful smell?" Ryan wrinkled his nose. Riley-Ann remembered the pile of burial clothes in the bathroom corner. "Did you get sick, Riley-Ann?"

"Um...a little. But I cleaned it up," Riley-Ann lied. "This is McKenzie. Remember her?"

Micki fainted. Ryan caught her. A look of grim understanding appeared on his face. "Where is it, Riley-Ann?"

"Where's what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. The coin. Where is it?"

"I...I don't know." In her excitement over McKenzie's resurrection, she'd completely forgotten about the coin. "I guess...I guess Uncle Lewis must have it now."

 _"Uncle Lewis?"_ Ryan looked as if he might faint himself.

* * *

"My Lord! What are we going to do now?" Micki sat on the bed, shaking her head helplessly. She, Ryan, Riley-Ann, and McKenzie were all still congregated in Riley-Ann's bedroom.

"Well, we'll have to let McKenzie's parents know that she's back, of course," said Riley-Ann.

Ryan shook his head. "I'm not so sure that would be a good idea."

"Why?" McKenzie cried. "Why can't I go back home to my Mommy and Daddy?"

"Now see what a mess you've made?" Micki's eyes blazed as she confronted her daughter.

"What on earth were you thinking?" added Ryan.

"Only how much I missed McKenzie and how nice it would be to have her back," Riley-Ann replied. "Uncle Lewis told me I could use the coin to bring her back."

"Well, I suppose it's too late to do anything about it now," Micki lamented.

"But why can't I go back home to my Mommy and Daddy?" McKenzie repeated.

"The shock would be too much for them," Ryan told her. "You see, McKenzie..."

"Your Mommy and Daddy think you're dead!" Riley-Ann interrupted.

"But why would they think that?" asked McKenzie.

"Because it's true," Ryan said quietly.


	11. Not Dead Anymore

The little girl's eyes grew round with horror. "No! It _can't_ be true!" she screamed. "I _can't_ be dead!"

"Well, you're not...anymore..." Riley-Ann said uncertainly.

"Where is he, Riley-Ann?" Micki demanded.

"Who?"

"Uncle Lewis! Did he go back to the antique store?"

"Yes. He took her back there after we...after we...dug McKenzie up..."

"We have to catch him before he uses the coin again!" Ryan exclaimed. He and Micki raced out of the house toward the antique shop, leaving Riley-Ann and McKenzie alone together.

"Take me to my Mommy and Daddy, Riley-Ann! _Now!"_ McKenzie demanded. Anger flashed in her eyes, sending cold chills down Riley-Ann's spine.

"All right," Riley-Ann said hesitantly, remembering what her father had said about the shock being too much for the little girl's parents.

Although Riley-Ann hadn't been to McKenzie's house in years, she remembered the way there perfectly. When McKenzie had been alive, she'd gone there practically every day.

By now the pink fingers of dawn had begun to slide over the sky, pushing away the darkness of the night. Students and those who worked an early shift were arising and beginning their day. Riley-Ann wondered whether McKenzie's parents were among them.

At last they reached the white picket fence surrounding the neatly manicured lawn. "My swing!" McKenzie exclaimed, racing for the tire swing that still hung from the tree in the front yard.

Just then Riley-Ann heard loud barking and turned to see a small black dog of indeterminate breed, growling and baring its front teeth. A moment later, McKenzie's father, Mr. Hull, opened the front door.

"Toby!" he yelled. The dog ran to him, and he opened the door wider and stared at Riley-Ann in surprise. "Riley-Ann Dallion! Is that you?"

"Daddy! Daddy!" McKenzie cried, running toward her father.

"What's going on, hon?" asked a sleepy voice as Mrs. Hull appeared in the doorway beside her husband.

"Mommy!" cried McKenzie.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Mr. Hull roared, backing away from his daughter.

"It's me, Daddy! McKenzie! Don't you remember?" The little girl was near tears.

Mr. Hull turned eyes full of cold anger toward Riley-Ann. "I don't know what in the world induced you to pull an unspeakably cruel stunt like this, but if you and that child aren't off my property in five seconds, I'm calling the cops!"

"Come on, McKen..." But Riley-Ann realized that the little girl was already out of view.

"McKenzie! McKenzie!" she cried, running back in the direction of her own house, which she assumed was where McKenzie had gone. She ran until a painful stitch in her side forced her to slow down.

When she finally reached the Dallion home, she discovered that neither her parents nor McKenzie were there. Knowing that they'd headed for the antique store, she made her way there.

She arrived at the store to find it in flames.

"Mom! Dad!" she cried. A moment later Ryan and Micki were there, hugging her fiercely.

The firefighters had arrived and were doing their best to put out the blaze. Riley-Ann asked her parents what had happened.

"Uncle Lewis was there, all right," Ryan told her. "I went right up to him and demanded the coin. He just gave that chilling laugh of his. 'Come and get it,' he said. I ran to him and grabbed the front of his shirt and shook him. He only laughed at me. 'You'll never see it again,' he said in a sing-song voice. In the meantime your mother was searching desperately for it everywhere. I let go of Uncle Lewis and joined her."

"After awhile I heard Uncle Lewis calling my name. I turned to see him holding the coin and laughing. Then I smelled gasoline and noticed that McKenzie was standing there laughing hysterically and holding a can of gasoline upside down so that it ran out all over the floor. Before I could stop her, she dropped the can, struck a match, and threw it right at Uncle Lewis' feet. I grabbed your Mom's hand and we bolted for the door. We made it outside just before the entire store burst into flames. That's when we saw you."

"So McKenzie's still inside?"

Micki grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and stared wildly into her eyes. "Riley-Ann, can't you _see?_ That wasn't really McKenzie! Whatever it was, it wasn't the little girl who was your friend!"

"But it _was_ her, Mom! It _was_ McKenzie! You and Dad just left her in there to burn up!"

Ryan and Micki looked at one another silently for a long moment, and then Ryan put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Come on, Riley-Ann. Let's go home."


	12. Epilogue

**Six Months Later**

"I can hardly believe it!" Micki shook her head mournfully. "It's just such a terrible thing!"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, glancing at his daughter. Riley-Ann sat in shocked silence, looking very pale. Her parents were talking about her boyfriend, Pierce, who'd been killed in a car crash only the previous day. "He was always so full of life, you know, always had something to look forward to. Hard to believe I'll never see him again."

"Poor Riley-Ann," said Micki. "She must be devastated, aren't you, sweetheart?"

Riley-Ann nodded mutely, fingering the coin in her pocket. She'd found it again only the previous week, when she'd been walking past the spot where the antique store had stood before it had burned to the ground, on her way to the hairdresser's. She'd noticed something sparkly lying in the midst of the rubble, and there it had been, just as if it had been waiting for her to reclaim it all that time. As if it had known she'd soon need it again.

The visitation was going to be that night, and the funeral was planned for the following day, but if things went the way Riley-Ann hoped they would, there wouldn't be a funeral at all. Her fingers closed tightly around the coin, waiting impatiently for the moment she'd place it on Pierce's lifeless forehead.

Somewhere, a very evil old man was laughing maniacally.


End file.
